CNN is replaying the Christine O’Donnell walkout on Piers Morgan’s show, understandably using it as a promotional tool. The Tea Party favorite couldn’t take the heat when asked about something she’d written in her book, regarding her views on gay marriage. Clearly it was a win for Piers, making him look like a tougher interviewer than he is; a black eye for the former Delaware Senate candidate, and a PR win for the news network.

Less newsy was Anderson Cooper’s descent into giggles on the subject of Gerard Depardieu’s airplane pee incident, which has been shared and remarked on more than anything on CNN in some time. And it is funny to see him break up and try, vainly, to get himself back in anchor mode. But the pun-filled script he was reading was about ten times too long; the goofy “Ridiculist” gives him leeway to talk about inanities but–enough. (Don’t say “hold it.”)

Some observers lamented the fact that CNN is getting more mileage out of this fluff than anything it has done in a long time. Stop the hand-wringing. There’s plenty of grim reporting from all corners.

All the cable news shows are building silliness into the lineup, Rachel Maddow mixing cocktails on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann offering a countdown of the week’s silliest headlines on Current. Chris Matthews getting into the weird before shifting gears to “play Hardball” on MSNBC.

How do you feel about the boom in silly, ridiculous, weird tidbits on news shows? Are things bad enough that we need the comic relief?

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.